In the Evening Shadows
by Lady Shadiait
Summary: Kurt and Ororo start off talking about persecution, and their conversation changes with the sunset. Kinda sad. please R&R.


Kurt and Ororo argue about persecution, and theirarguement changes to a discussion about coping with inner pain.

In The Evening Shadows

"Kurt…"

"Ororo…"

They just stared at each other, this wasn't their first disagreement, but he tried to make it so they never fought. Ororo took a deep breath. Kurt waited patiently, with an expression that clearly stated _you talk, I'll listen._

"Why, Kurt? I mean, I know why they do it, but…why do they do this to us?" Ororo questioned desperately.

"Because they don't know any better," Kurt tried gently to explain.

"You talk about them as if they're children misbehaving, Kurt. Do you understand what I'm talking about, even?"

They were in the library after classes, sitting across from one another at the table. Ororo was trying to prepare a class on the Civil War, and Kurt was trying to help. In the end, they had gotten onto the topic of persecution and now…here they were.

Kurt reached across the table and took her hand lightly. "They are children, in a way. Ororo, they do not know about who we are. But what we are, it frightens them. That is why they treat us the way they do."

Ororo looked at him, tears forming in her icy blue eyes, "but, why can't they…?"

"Because they do not want to." The answer was truthful, and it came out in a voice broken with pain. His eyes held hers in a steady gaze.

"Sometimes I…" Ororo paused as she chocked back a slight sob, "I see the demonstrations on the television, I hear people talk, and I get so angry, Kurt." One tear traced its way down her cheek, "I want to hurt them. To do to them what they do to us."

His grip on her hand tightened, "I think, if they knew us, they would not do these things."

"How can you forgive them so easily?"

There was a pause, as if he were trying to form an answer she'd accept. But when she looked at him she saw that he was struggling simply for the words to express what she knew he'd probably kept locked up for so long. "Because, I believe that they don't truly know what they're doing." He said finally. There was something about his answer that sound clipped, as if he had cut off the end of it.

"I think they do," Ororo replied, feeling anger pushing her pain out of the way, "they know exactly what they're doing to us, Kurt. They know. They want to hurt us, to cause us pain. They…they…." She slumped forward as she began to cry.

Kurt rose from his chair and circled round the table. He crouched next to Ororo, and wrapped his arms around her. Ororo turned and leaned on his shoulder, continuing to cry.

After a few minutes the tears stopped. Ororo pulled gently out of his embrace, drying her eyes with one hand. Kurt wiped a tear off her face, and gave her a sad smile.

"You cannot loose hope, Ororo. In the end, hope and truth are all we have."

"And faith?" she asked.

"And faith," he agreed, nodding slightly.

"I…I wish it was that easy." She refused to meet his eyes, "but, I can't find it in my heart to forgive them."

"With time, perhaps…"

"I don't think so, Kurt. Not for me, I don't think I ever will be able to."

He sighed heavily, staring at her, unable to find words that even remotely suggested his sorrow for her. "Ororo…" he pleaded, "Ororo, don't…please." He reached out to take her in his arms again.

Ororo pulled back, she didn't want him to know how hurt she was. "Faith…pity, these are things that are in your heart, Kurt. But I don't, I lost them." _And now all I have is anger, and pain._

"_Nien_, Ororo, you have just forgotten them." His voice was so…sure. It was so obvious that he completely believed what he was saying, that he wasn't just trying to make her feel better.

"Maybe they're best forgotten," she grumbled bitterly. She _wanted_ to hate the people who hurt her, who hurt them all, who had taken Jean away from them….

He rose, tail swaying side to side the way it did when he became thoughtful. He wandered to the window and stared out at the gathering darkness. It would night soon, darkness, his element. Secretly she envied his ability to disappear into the shadows. To be able to hide, where no one could see him or see all the pain he carried. She wished she could hide that same way.

"I do not want you to think that way, Ororo," he confessed, leaning heavily on the windowsill, "but I do not know how to change your view. I wish I could help you, but I cannot." He turned away from the window, silhouetted against what light was left outside. "Please forgive me."

Ororo was speechless, she tried desperately to say something, anything, but even if she could think of the words, her lips would not part to let them pass. Kurt turned back to the window, head hanging, his tail following suit. She could see his glowing eyes, which seemed to be shimmering in the fading light. After a moment she realized they were tears. Was he crying for her? Was this not the first time?

"Oh, Kurt, I…." she rose and joined him, embracing him from behind, "I'm so sorry."

His tail coiled around her waist, but he didn't turn to look at her. She rested some of her weight against his back, pressing her cheek to the rough fabric of his home-made shirt. Her hands were clasped together over his chest. She felt him gently rest one callused hand over them. Outside he seemed to be hard, toughened by life, but she knew there was a very sensitive soul inside that could not be protected by his strong body.

They stood there as the darkness slowly crept in, neither one making any sound. Resting against him, Ororo could hear his heart beat. It was a steady, constant rhythm, and it made her feel safe. His tail was wrapped snuggly around her waist, but he still stared at the darkened gardens below. She had always thought it strange, the gardens were always a safe-seeming place during the day, but after dark they suddenly seemed forbidding. Strange shadows rose and twisted; unseen eyes seemed to peer from the bushes and trees. The wind sounded like threatening whispers.

She shook her head slightly to remove those thoughts. This movement caused Kurt to turn, releasing her. She stepped back, "Ororo, is something wrong?"

"I was trying to shake loose the thoughts in my mind. I hate that, when you get something into your head, like bad memory, and even if you manage to suppress it, it fights its way to your attention again. No matter what you do, it just won't go away."

"I understand," he said quietly. He was about to turn away from her again, then stopped. She looked so…vulnerable in the shadows. He could see the hollows under her eyes, hear the grief in her voice, and see the painful memories in her eyes whenever they flashed across her mind. Her entire form had started to wither, like a dying flower. She was crumpled, listless, wilted. No longer the beautiful Goddess he'd first met, she was a blurred reflection of what she had once been, tortured by demons of pain and guilt. The light in her eyes had gone, leaving an empty, haunted look of someone who was dead inside. His lovely angel was now nothing but an empty shell.

Wordlessly, he put his arms around her and pulled her close. Ororo collapsed into his arms, and pressed herself to him tearfully. He tried to say comforting things to her, but all that would pass his lips were whimper-like sobs. Tears blurred his vision, and he squeezed his eyes shut against them. Still they seeped from underneath, no matter how hard he fought back. He had to be strong; he had to take care of her….

Ororo lifted her head to see the tears, each like a perfect crystal, sliding down his cheeks. She gently wiped them away, as he had done for her. His eyes opened, meeting hers in the now solid darkness. She forced herself to smile, for his sake.

"I should be the strong one," he told, meaning it as an apology.

"We all cry," she told him, trying to shrug it off.

"Until now, I had not seen you cry."

"I…I…guess not."

"You are too strong, Ororo. You need to let it break. Otherwise the wounds will never heal."

"Wounds like this can't heal."

"They can, but they will leave scars. And those will sometimes hurt. But if you never let it heal, then it will never stop bleeding."

"I'm scared," she confessed, "that if I start letting myself feel it, then it'll never go away."

"It will go away, but first you must let it out. If you keep it inside, it will only hurt more."

She turned her head away, and he suddenly noticed how dark it had gotten. "It is late, you should sleep." He slipped an arm under her legs and lifted her off the ground. She gave a surprised squeak and instinctively put her arms around his neck. He smiled at her and teleported to her room.

Gently, Kurt set Ororo down on the bed. She let go of him and lay back. He stroked her cheek gently, he wanted to kiss her, but held himself back. "Do you have to go?" she whispered in the darkness.

"I have…things I must do," he faltered. "Sweet dreams, Ororo." He hesitantly kissed her on the forehead. Then he took a step back and teleported again.

Ororo stared at where he had been for a few moments, then closed her eyes and let sleep wash over her.

Kurt perched on the roof like a gargoyle, handling his rosary, staring absently into the shadows, and thinking over what had occurred. With a sudden and strange realization, he found that the events had taken place over the course of no more than a half hour, but it felt like a lifetime since their argument began. _Such a stupid argument_, he thought harshly. But maybe, just maybe, some good had come of it.


End file.
